The school Zorian goes to. As the name implies, it's located in Cyoria. It's an elite institution that prides on the quality of its teaching staff. It also has a very good library. There are four years of education in it, with several classes for each year. Each class set is ranked as tier 3, tier 2, or tier 1, in rough order of advancement. There are approximately 600 students in the school.[1]
Characters[]
Faculty[]
- Ilsa Zileti (teaches Zorian's essential invocations class)
- Xvim Chao (Zorian's mentor, very fond of marbles)
- Carabiera Aope (Benisek's Mentor)
- Nirthak (nonmagical combat instructor at the school)
- Zenomir Olgai (Zorian's history teacher)
- Kyron (Zorian's combat magic teacher)
- Nora Boole (Zorian's spell formula teacher)
- Azlyn Marivoski (Zorian's alchemy teacher)
- Kirithishli Korisova (head librarian)
First year students[]
- Byrn Ivarin (rides the train with Zorian)
Second year students[]
- Veyers Boranova (Zorian's ex-classmate, expelled after second year)
Third year students[]
- Zorian Kazinski (Protagonist, time traveler)
- Zach Noveda (Zorian's classmate, time traveler)
- Kael Tverinov (Zorian's classmate, alchemy expert, has a 3-year old daughter, Kana)
- Briam (Zorian's classmate, fire drake owner)
- Akoja Stroze (Zorian's classmate, class representative)
- Neolu (Zorian's classmate, science fiction enthusiast)
- Raynie (Zorian's classmate, wolf shifter)
- Kiana (Zorian's classmate)
- Benisek (Zorian's classmate, Zorian's sort-of friend)
- Edwin (Zorian's classmate, golem enthusiast)
- Estin Grier (Zorian's classmate, family from Ulquaan Ibasa)
- Tinami Aope (Zorian's classmate, heir of House Aope, mind magic and spider enthusiast)
- Kopriva Reid (Zorian's classmate, member of House Reid which House "allegedly" has links to organized crime, has green hair)
- Aneka and Armie Ashirai (Zorian's classmates, soul-bonded twins)
- Naim (Zorian's classmate, martial arts enthusiast, first generation mage)
- Elsie (Zorian's classmate)
- Jade (Zorian's classmate, pulled from school)
- Maya (Zorian's classmate, pulled from school)
- Iroro (Zorian's classmate, pulled from school)
Fourth year students[]
- Fortov Kazinski (Zorian's brother)
- Ibery Ambercomb (sometimes rides the train with Zorian, works at the library)
Classes and electives[]
The "first year was all theory, meditation exercises, and learning how to access your mana consistently." [2] Zorian also mentions that there was "Operation of Magic Items" class in his first year, and "theory" included "introductions to various magical traditions and disciplines, learning how to understand the basics of Ikosian language, biology, history, geography, law and mathematics"[3].
Third year classes[]
- Essential invocations - Scheduled for five times a week, which is each day of the school week. Taught by Ilsa Zileti.
- Essential alchemy - taught by Azlyn Marivoski
- Operation of magical items
- History of magic - taught by Zenomir Olgai
- Magical law
- Combat magic - taught by Kyron
- Spell formula - taught by Nora Boole
Electives[]
In Zorian's third year he must choose not less than 3 and not more than 5 electives[2]. Known electives include:
- Classical literature (non-magical)[2]
- Architecture (non-magical)[2]
- Engineering (Zorian's initial elective)[4]
- Mineral alchemy (Zorian's initial elective)[4]
- Estate management[4]
- Advanced mathematics (Zorian's initial elective[4], non-magical), taught by Nora Boole
- Nonmagical combat, taught by Nirthak
- Linguistics, taught by Zenomir Olgai[5]
- Botany (Zorian's time-saving choice in the time loop) [6]
- Astronomy (Zorian's time-saving choice in the time loop)[6]
- Human anatomy (Zorian's time-saving choice in the time loop)[6]
- Defense against hostile magic (for fourth year students), taught by Xvim[7]
Simplification of the curriculum[]
Xvim Chao is fond of remarking how bad the state of magical education is at present.
- "the inadequacy of current academy curricula has stunted the growth of another promising student"[4].
- "it is criminal how badly the classes are failing our students"[8].
- "One more promising student failed by the poor state of our magical education" (referring to Zach)[9].
Once he notes it's due to the Weeping, however he notes also that after the Weeping "children from wealthy, but not traditionally magical families could attend our institution far more easily in the past, and I have no issue with that"[10].
Kyron also noted that "not too long ago, the combat magic class had a much more demanding curriculum, including what was called 'resistance training'".[11] In his class, casting combat spells without the aid of spell formula is not even taught, "since teaching you how to use classical invocations effectively in battle would take years". Zach, however, claimed that "for training purposes it's better to work with actual invocations"[12]. In the restart when Zach tutored Zorian, Kyron has been kind of impressed with Zorian's growth (according to Ibery Ambercomb), although the fact that Zorian practiced every day[12] may have contributed.